Oral Health Tip #01 – Brushing

Effective bushing

Brushing your teeth effectively is important to making your twice daily brush count. You may have never been shown how or you might be in need a refresher.

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When should I brush my teeth?

Simple rule, when you wake up and before you go to sleep.

Mornings. There is debate as to wether you should brush before or after breakfast. The evidence is bacteria grows while your asleep and responds to the food and their production of acids after you have breakfast. As such, the teeth are softened by the reaction taking place in your mouth. Brushing after this process will remove substances however, brushing before eating will remove most bacteria before this takes place. Best practice is to brush before and rinse after if you feel you need to.

Night time. It is very important to brush before you go to sleep. If you don't, particles from food or drink are left in contact with the teeth and have the whole night to cause permanent damage to your teeth and gums. Brushing before sleep ensures the best possible conditions for your mouth to protect your teeth while you sleep.

How do I brush correctly?

1. Start on top. First brush the insides. Technique: Circular and forward motioning.

2. Then brush the outside. Technique: Circular motioning with a mix of soft and hard pressure.

3. Next brush the biting surfaces. Technique: Firm pressure, back and forth motion.

4. Repeat these three steps.

5. Lastly brush your tongue. Technique: Side to side, back and forth.

How long do I brush my teeth?

4 minutes. Most dentists, including The #EmergencyDentist Sydney, agrees 4 minutes of brushing is optimum. Be practical, divide your time between your teeth. 2 minutes for the top, 2 for the bottom. Then, 1 minute each for the back and for the front.

Do I brush first or floss?

We say, floss first. Everyone has a different opinion on this, we take a practical approach.

When you floss you are cleaning in between your teeth and, in most cases, you are moving particles of food from between your teeth to the inside of your mouth or the surfaces of your teeth. We therefore would recommend brushing after doing this. We like to compare it to cleaning under your nails vs washing your hands. Most people would want to wash their hands after removing dirt or other nasty things from under their finger nails. That's our theory.

But there is no concrete evidence to support either order of brushing vs flossing. As long as you are disrupting the happy lives of bacteria who build little communities and multiply on and in between your teeth, you are doing the right thing.

If you do prefer to brush before flossing, we recommend thoroughly rinsing after flossing.

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The #EmergencyDentist Says:

Brush before breakfast –  It doesn't really matter if your brush before or after you floss

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Dental Care 101: Playing Sports

Mouthguards Are Your Best Friend

One of the most common causes of dental injuries comes from contact sports. Sports and active lifestyles are an important part of many people's lives and proper prevention and protection practices should be number one.

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The injuries our beloved contact sports cause are often very painful and can require expensive treatment. Our Dentists can fit you or your family members with custom moulded mouth guards, you can contact us to find out more. These are just some of the benefits of wearing a custom fit mouthguard:

• A custom fit will enable the best possible speech and breathing.

• The tailored shape means a snug and uniformed fit to your teeth, enabling best possible protection.

• The quality of the material we use in the mouthguard are the strongest grade possible, while still being relatively thin.

• They come in a range of colours, you can match it to your sporting team or keep it clear or plain.

For more on prevention practices view our TOP 10 Prevention TIPS List.

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Dental Care 101: Prevention Tip

Prevention Is Your Best Friend: Here's Our TOP 10 List

Every person's smile is unique and so is their dental care requirements. However, there a few things we can all do, from a young age, to ensure we keep the teeth we have and keep them healthy. Let's get started with a few dental hygiene prevention tips:

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Our top tips:

1. Brush Regular!It's simple but lots of us don't do this most simplest of activities. So, brush twice a day, after meals where possible.
    

2. Floss Regular. Twice a day to be exact! A slow sawing motion is the best way to do it. If you're not sure how to do it ask your Dentist at your next visit. If you are a regular 'flosser' you should check your technique at your next check-up, just in case. For detailed info on how to floss right check out our flossing tips page (link to come).
    

3. Choose The Right Toothbrush For You. The toothbrush you choose should have a head small enough so that you can reach behind your back teeth. The bristles should also be soft, these will be kinder to your gums long term.
    

4. Right. The average adult should brush their teeth for about 3 minutes and combine a technique of up and down on teeth surfaces and soft circular motion where your teeth meet your gums. Anything shorter and you're probably not paying enough attention to where and how you're brushing. If you brush longer than 3 minutes you may be causing gum or plaque damage, so keep it close to 3 minutes. For detailed instructions on how to brush right check out our brushing tips page (link to come).
    

5. Limit Acidic Foods & Drinks. These include things like soft drink or fizzie drinks, cordials and fruit juices. The acidic levels in these manufactured foods and drinks are concentrated and above the desired standard levels. They will dissolve the minerals contained in the enamel that coats and protects your teeth, leading to cavities (holes).
    

6. Limit Sugary Foods. These include things like lollies and candies, sweeteners, dried fruits, cakes, jams, some cereals and sauces. The bacteria in dental plaque change sugars in to acids and we all know what that does.
    

7. Protect Teeth From Injury. Always wear a mouthguard or full-face helmet when playing any contact sports.
    

8. Save Dislodged Teeth. Should your teeth be knocked out while playing sport or in an altercation or accident, seek medical advice immediately. Once you have done this you should wrap the tooth in plastic or place it in a container of milk until you are able to seek medical advice.
    

9. Use Your Teeth To Chew! Doing things like cracking nuts, opening bottles by popping off the lid with your teeth, or sucking on a hard boiled lollies or candies can crack or chip your teeth. These may not be evident or noticeable at the time they occur but will develop in to bigger problems with time.
    

10. Use A Fluoridated Toothpaste. Fluoride hardens your tooth enamel and helps greatly to reduce the risk of tooth decay.

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